Timely¶
Definition¶
When publishing IATI data, organisations should consider how to achieve the following:
- Updated - IATI data should reflect an ongoing effort by the publisher to keep up-to-date with the activity taking place.
- Frequency - IATI data should be frequently updated by the publisher.
- Historical - IATI data should contain historical data in terms of transactions. Such data should not be overwritten during publication.
Considerations¶
When providing timely IATI data, publishers should also consider:
- When data is timely, a publisher is providing the most recently available data possible. There should not be a significant gap between the timeframe represented by the data and the actual activity being described.
- Publishers should provide new and refreshed data as often as possible, ideally on a monthly or quarterly basis.
- Some publishers start publishing data on a six-monthly or annual basis and improve their frequency over time. Other publishers are updating their data files on a daily or weekly basis.
- It is important that transactions are maintained over time, and not replaced with cumulative figures. Whilst it is often the case that IATI transactions can represent aggregate amounts, these should remain once published, and not be overwritten in future updates.
- IATI data does not serve as a snapshot, but as an historic record of activities.
Benefits¶
It’s useful to access timely IATI data because:
- When IATI data is timely, it is up to date, and more useful for users, particularly for partner country governments using it to inform forward planning.
- When IATI data is historical, it enables users to monitor changes in development cooperation activities more easily.